Early New Orleans Minstrel Days

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
Noted jazz guitarist/historian Dr. Souchon recorded these unprecedented and important sessions in an attempt to capture some of the never-before-heard sounds from early jazz. Souchon grew up in New Orleans and, as a child, heard legendary musicians who influenced the greats of jazz but never recorded themselves. Here, he recreates the songs of that era! Of all the Night Train New Orleans releases, this is the oldest and most traditional, for Souchon is a legend in New Orleans circles as a repository of ragtime and Dixieland tradition.

Early New Orleans Minstrel Days, Music, Doc Souchon, Jazz, New Orleans Jazz, Pop, Trad Jazz, V/a Compilations

Average customer rating:

This is very cool.. Dr. E. Souchon was an important player.

Rare Old Songs

Misleading title which does not reflect the content

Early New Orleans Minstrel Days
Doc Souchon
Manufacturer: Night Train Int'l
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Jazz | Styles | Music
New Orleans Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music
Traditional Jazz General | Traditional Jazz & Ragtime | Jazz | Styles | Music
General | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Oldies | Pop | Styles | Music
Traditional Vocal Pop | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music
General | Jazz | Indie Music | Stores | Music
Traditional & Vocal Pop | Pop | Indie Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B000001JF7
Release Date: 1996-06-11

Give Us A Drink, Bartender
Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out
Sweet Baby Doll
Buckwheat Cakes
Maruich, She Make Da Hoochie Ma Cooch
You Cooked Your Goose With Me
Deacon, Deacon, Deacon
Play That Barbershop Chord
E-Blues
She Keeps It Up All The Time
Oh, How She Dances!
Cookie
Animules Ball
That Was All We Saw
Ella Speed Blues

Album Description

Noted jazz guitarist/historian Dr. Souchon recorded these unprecedented and important sessions in an attempt to capture some of the never-before-heard sounds from early jazz. Souchon grew up in New Orleans and, as a child, heard legendary musicians who influenced the greats of jazz but never recorded themselves. Here, he recreates the songs of that era! Of all the Night Train New Orleans releases, this is the oldest and most traditional, for Souchon is a legend in New Orleans circles as a repository of ragtime and Dixieland tradition.

Customer Reviews:

This is very cool.. Dr. E. Souchon was an important player........2005-11-20

I had read several things (all complimentary) about Dr. Edmund Souchon, but I had only heard him as an accompanist, not as a singer. So this recording represented my only opportunity so far to get to hear him as a solo performer. It's a pretty low-budget production in terms of both recording quality and packaging, so I was ready to be disappointed. Let it be said here that I was pleasantly surprised.

These are clearly tunes from a different era; totally anachronistic. Each cut starts out Dr. Souchon providing some sort of verbal descriptive history of the tune to be played. Sometimes the tunes are solo, sometimes with a clarinet/bass/guitar/drum configuration. The whole thing sounds like it was done in someone's living room... quite informal, and relatively lo-fi.

I could understand why some folks might not be impressed... however, for me this record is charming and informative. Dr. Souchon is a very good finger style guitarist. His voice is strong and laden with classic Crescent City color. I dig the performances... he knew these songs well. In my estimation it is an important picture of a bygone era, and it is a welcome addition to my New Orleans collection.

My only knock on the package is that it provides zero liner notes. All in all, though, I am real glad that this recording has been made available.

Rare Old Songs.......2000-05-23

Another reviewer thought the title to be misleading, thinking of the early minstrel period as beginning ca 1840 and continuing for about 30 years or so. Of course, the minstrel show lived on well beyond that and was succeeded by vaudeville, medicine shows, etc. The songs performed here by Doc Souchon belong properly to the latter traditions and jazz, perhaps 1890-1910. Doc is a great performer, and his version of the famous murder ballad "Ella Speed" alone is worth the price of the CD, even though some of his facts about this killing are slightly in error (she was not killed in Storyville, which came into existence in 1898 - she was killed in 1894 in the French Quarter of New Orleans, which never became part of Storyville).

Misleading title which does not reflect the content.......1999-10-06

The expression "A Face Only A Mother Would Love" applies to this CD. Doctor Souchon's relatives and friends and anyone who might have heard him play at a party in New Orleans might find this CD interesting. The misleading title: "Early New Orleans Minstrel Days" would lead one interested in music of the minstrel period (1835-1875) to expect music of that era to be included. None of these selections fulfils that requirement. Furthermore, Dr. Souchon introduces his numbers with the frequent comment that the listener would never have heard the song previously. After listening to the songs it is obvious why that is the case -- they should have been left buried in the archives. This is one of those CD's that will not be played a second time. It has no saving graces but for the friends of the singer.

Music: